copyright violation before I start coding?

[toyya]

Imagine an existing software product A. If I create my own product which is simply a feature-by-feature, menu-by-menu copy of A, am I violating A's software copyright?

I'm asking this because there's a particular product in the market which is indescribably shoddy, but it is successful simply because there's no competition. So I'm thinking of building the exact same thing, which is much, much faster, prettier and easier to use and yet has the exact same general structure. Should I be worried about copyright violation before I start coding?

[tareshen]

This is a legal not a programming question and will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Getting legal advice from programmers is highly discouraged.

you shouldl definitely talk to a lawyer. But it was nice to get a broad idea here nevertheless.

[roz jack]

I have to agree with the previous commenters who are advising you to consult a lawyer. It is interesting to note that this kind of thing dates back to when Apple computer sued Microsoft (and lost) for copying the Macintosh user interface design in the first versions of Windows. The final judgement essentially boiled down to "you can't copyright a user interface"

[vsenthil]

Incorrect, they avoided ruling on just that question "This made the case more of a contractual matter than one of copyright law, much against Apple's intentions. This also meant that the court could avoid a far-reaching "look and feel copyright" precedent ruling."

[roz jack]

In the United States, copyright does not apply to ideas.

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ31.html

Copyright applies to software, but only as a "literary work".

http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html#wwp

So as long as you don't have access to the source code, there can't be a claim you violated the copyright by ... copying!

Of course, I share the opinion that copyright shouldn't really apply to software.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misint...copyright.html

And patents are a legal trap rather than a promoter of innovation.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/patent...ot-enough.html

[laxmi]

Don't know what country you're in, assuming the US. The relevant things to look into are:

My advice: find a good lawyer who specializes in copyright and trademark. I suspect a complete clone of the user interface would be in an area gray enough that they might sue thinking they have a reasonable case, whether they win or not doesn't matter if you go bankrupt fighting the suit (plus dealing with any injunctions which I could definitely see the Judge imposing on distribution of your software.

[toyya]

Thanks a lot for a very informative answer. I'm located in India. And I will definitely see a lawyer about the peculiarities of the copyright law here. Just wanted to get a rough notion from others' experience.

[CorranJ]

I wrote a software package for an employer and now have left them.
I would like to write a competing product and need to know if I have
to start from scratch or if I change a percentage of the code does
that satisfy the law. (if this is the case what percentage?)
By the way, the original product was not copyrighted in any way. That
just made for a good title
Please quote specific examples of similar cases and provide references.